Qeya River all falls down

A wayward doe had pulled Freyja from Sleeping Dragon’s territory and into the Wilds. Though she did not often breach the pack’s boundaries, especially without Thuringwethil, the temptation of fresh meat drove her determined steps. She paid mind to where so was going, hugging the boundaries as she stalked. Though she could smell that she was getting close the deer still happened to stay out of view. Despite this, she would not give up on the trait just yet.

She paused along the river for a quick drink. As she leaned over and rank, she kept her chestnut up raised so that she could keep watch for any wolf or deer that might happen across her path.

He parted ways with the elderly she-wolf early enough that he didn't feel the need to turn back yet. Instead, Tambourine kept heading east, though an interesting noise in the distance caused him to turn his course north. The youth's eyes widened comically when he emerged from a forest and found himself on a riverbank. He had never seen something like this before. He approached the water's edge and dropped his snout for a drink, enjoying the tickle of the current.

When he was done, he straightened up and suddenly spotted a figure on the other side of the river. By now, he had a bit of a modus operandi for situations like this. "Hi!" he shouted over the quiet rush of the moving water, tail slowly waving.

Despite Freyja’s apparent concentration on keeping an eye out, she only caught sight of the other when he called out. She quickly ceased her drinking to shoot the stranger a less than welcoming glance. Though he did not seem threatening by any sense of the meaning, the Feisripa worried for the deer that she had been stalking. She did not want to alert the creature to either of their presences and instead of scolding the other, she remained silent.

Her tail lashed as she looked to him with burning eyes as she hoped that he would get the message and leave her to her hunting.

She shot him a reproachful look, which caused Tambourine to blink in surprise. He had crossed paths with several strangers in recent weeks and none had looked at him with such blatant annoyance. Perhaps he should have taken his cue and left her alone, yet he wasn't that intuitive.

"What's the matter?" he called, unaware of just how much he was behaving like some cat caller on the street.

Instead of getting the clue the other wolf instead continued in his attempt to communicate with Freyja. She could feel herself grow more irritated as the boy spoke. Despite the fact that he appeared to be nearly full grown, the other appeared quite dull in his actions. Putting herself into the other’s pawsteps, she would have figured that she was not welcomed if she had been met with such a greeting.

“Quiet!” she hissed suddenly, her hackles bristling and her tail lashing as she spoke. Pinning him with her gaze, she waited for his reaction, not wanting to draw anymore attention. If the doe was about it most likely had already heard the other’s call and had began its search for safer lands. It was at this thought crossed her mind that another came about.

“Do you hunt? If you do, don't say anything and get over here.” She did her best to keep quiet as she called to him.

She hissed a rebuke and Tambourine's ears pinned sideways, confused by the command. Only when she spoke again did he suddenly understand the situation. She was trying to hunt and he was being too loud. He threw her an apologetic grimace of a smile, then scanned the waters looking for a shallow place to cross to join her. His hunting skills were mediocre at best but he wanted to make things right.

"Sorry," he emphatically stage-whispered after fording the river and arriving, dripping wet and freezing, beside the other wolf. He backpedaled a few meters to shake himself dry, then blinked at her. Now that he was up close, he saw that she was quite a lot younger than he'd expected. It was kind of funny, considering how she'd spoken to him, but there was a purposeful and sophisticated air about her even in silence.

Although he might be older and certainly larger, Tambourine easily deferred to her more authoritative demeanor. He remained obediently mum and stepped back to stand beside her, waiting for her to take point.

It appeared that the other did hunt. She watched keenly as the other made his way across the river. She had not fully realized just how big the other was in comparison, but, in retrospect, that didn’t matter. All that mattered in that moment was that she had a hunting partner.

Once he had shaken off, Frejya stood a little taller. It was almost comical watching Freyja attempt to make herself bigger in the other’s presence, as he easily towered over her, and soon enough the Feisripa felt comfortable in her standing to address him.

“What have you hunted before? Elk? Deer?” There was not time for formalities as far as Freyja was concerned. She knew that the two of them could not take down the doe. But, regardless, she was interested in what she was working with partner wise.

Tambourine never paid much mind to posturing, though when she asserted herself, he lowered his head a little and let his tail hang limp behind against his hind legs. He didn't so much submit to her as show her that he had no intention of challenging her in any way. She was younger and smaller but that made no difference. It was all about attitude anyhow. He would happily follow her lead.

When questioned about his experience, Tambourine froze. "Um." He was only six months old and had never yet participated in a pack hunt. He did chase small game from time to time but that was about it. "Neither?" He blinked. "Mostly just small stuff. I—wait, you've hunted deer and elk before?" he asked suddenly, already looking impressed.

The the news of his inexperience Freyja felt her lip pout involuntarily. It was strange to her that he had not had such experiences but she reserved her judgement for now. Perhaps, she thought hopefully, he was a skilled small-game hunter like Wildfire.

“I went on a tracking expedition with my mentor and father a while back,” she replied nonchalantly. Now that it seemed that she was out a hunting partner, her mid shifted to accommodate the next idea that came to mind. “Do you want to hunt something smaller?” She knew that she wasn’t going to go home empty-pawed. Though she knew she could easily hunt soemthing down she had made him cross the river and she didn't want his trip to be for nothing. They would hunt so that they could both bring something to their respective homes.

She mentioned going on a hunting expedition a while back, her voice nonchalant. Tambourine just stared at her, brows lifted not in disbelief but admiration. "Wow," he said a little stupidly before wondering, "How old are you?" When she presumably informed him, his eyebrows shot even higher and his astonishment grew as he repeated, "Wow."

Tambourine couldn't be sure if she was just away ahead of the class or if he was way behind (or maybe a bit of both?). In any case, she asked if he wanted to hunt something smaller. He opened his mouth to answer when his upraised brows suddenly dropped and furrowed. "Sorry I'm spoiling your hunt," he said earnestly, "but I've only ever hunted small stuff. I'm Tambourine, by the way," he added, figuring it was all right to speak up now.

A smile crossed her dark lips at his reaction and she offered him a wag of her tail. She was starting to grow more comfortable around this stranger, though she would be somewhat on edge given the fact she was out of her pack lands, and this relaxing was noticeable in her body language. “I’m five months old.” Her response was met with astonishment and to this, she pulled her head back and raised her eyebrows. “How old are you?” she asked in reply. Surely he wasn’t older than she was?

When he apologized, the Feisripa offered a smile out of pity for his sorrow. “I couldn’t have caught it alone,” she offered, shrugging. “Even with us, we’d at least need another wolf. So, no serious harm done. I was going to see if the doe I was tracking had a herd nearby.” The question of this was still fresh on her mind, but, she ignored it in favor of her own introduction.

“I’m Freyja, Feisripa of Sleeping Dragon,” she motioned to the mountain behind her as she introduced herself. “What pack are you from, Tambourine?”

It did make him feel a bit better, knowing she had never intended to do more than track the doe. And if she still wanted to resume, Tambourine could certainly help with that. He had accompanied Silas on a few tracking expeditions back home. He was no expert but he had a nose as useful as any other's.

"I'm the same age, I think," he replied to her previous question before asking, "D'you still wanna track? I can do that." His head tipped endearingly at her introduction before gladly answering her follow-up question. "Marauder's Keep. Did you just say you're a face ripper? And that you live in a dragon?" This girl got more interesting by the minute.

To Tambourine’s first response, Freyja’s eyebrows once more out of her own curiosity in his reply. Despite this, she did not press on the matter. Instead she went on to reply to his own questions, her expression brightening in light of her own amusement. “I don’t live in a dragon,” she corrected gently. “The mountain is called Sleeping Dragon. Some say that our mountain breathes fire when it wakes.” Drageda had experienced this first hand just a few week ago when the dragon had momentarily woken from it’s sleep. But instead of lava they had been met with ash.

Skirting back to his previous suggestion after a pause, where Tambourine presumably reacted out of amazement in the mountain being able to breathe fire, Freyja smiled. “Sure, let’s do that.”

Freyja explained the name and Tambourine grinned. "Cool," was his only comment. She didn't strike him the same way Saena did, though as he regarded her now, it was with clear admiration written all over his face. She was so accomplished already, with such a confident bearing. Plus her title was downright sweet. He would have to tell Stark all about the "face ripper" from the fire-breathing mountain.

"There's a guy in my pack," he said conversationally as they began moving. "His name's Silas. He's a little bit older than us. He's into tracking too." Silas had shown him a thing or two which he hoped to utilize today. Hopefully he wouldn't fall too short, though he could already tell that he had nothing on Freyja in this department.

She smiled to his response, feeding into the confidence that his responses were giving her. She stayed silent until he brought up the member of his pack that specializes in tracking. She smiled at this, knowing that his experience in tracking would benefit her curiosity. After all, two trackers were better than one!

“Can you smell the deer right now?” she asked from his side, looking up curiously. Freyja sniffed the air at this, quickly finding the scent. Despite her discovery, she said nothing and waited for the Xi to reply.

Maybe he would have to introduce the two of them. The thought sort of tickled Tambourine for some unknown reason, though before he could think about it much more, Freyja asked him if he could smell the deer. Although slightly disappointed that she didn't want to hear more about Silas, he figured she was just trying to keep her head in the game. He aspired to do the same.

He tipped his pewter snout into the air and inhaled, rotating his head in a few different directions to sift through the gentle wintry breeze. "Yep," he eventually concluded with shining eyes. He could even tell her the correct direction, though Tambourine remained quiet, happy to let her continue taking the lead.

As Tambourine replied, Freyja eyes brightened and her ears perked. Though it had taken time, she was glad that he had been able to spot the doe amongst the multitude of scents that wafted around them.

“Let’s go, then,” she offered with a smile, as if hinting him to take the lead. Though it was her hunt, she felt that it made sense for him to take the lead at this point.

She smiled at him but didn't move. Tambourine waited, then waited some more. Still she didn't take even one step. His eyes went a little shifty as he wondered about the delay. Only when he stopped and studied her face a little more closely did he realize that maybe she was waiting on him.

"Oh." He blinked. "I'm right behind you," he then said, smiling and gesturing for her to take the lead. She was clearly more knowledgeable and deserved the point position.

She blinked at his response, finding herself at a loss of words in that moment. It was strange that he didn’t want to lead, especially coming from a litter of such dominance driven wolves, but she did not voice her questions. Instead, she nodded and smiled, finding it quite easy to really step into the leading position.

Turning from the argent-haired wolf, Freyja set off in the direction of where the scent lead her. It seemed as if the doe was traveling along the river and she hoped that it would stay on this bank as opposed to crossing the frigid waters.

Her mind began to wander as they padded along, as she felt the need to speak in the silence that had settled upon them, and soon enough a random thought struck her. “Have you ever seen a deer alive?” she wondered, her eyes shifting to her companion. After all, he had seemed rather interested in the face that she had helped hunted a deer.

If she was confused or put out about the roles, she didn't say anything. She stepped forward and he fell in behind her. This position gave him an interesting view of her backside, yet Tambourine barely noticed. He was too busy alternating between sniffing the air and combing the ground for the scent trail. It was interesting how many more details he could glean once the scent grew stronger in his nose.

When Freyja spoke, Tambourine considered the question for a beat. "Yeah, they're usually alive when my pack kills them," he replied astutely. Wait, what kind of question was that? He squinted.

She found herself pausing quite a bit in the exchange, and Tambourine’s next reply was no exception to this trend. Hesitating as she attempted to find the right words, in the midst of her tracking, she floundered for a moment.

“So… you’ve seen your pack hunt deer?” she pressed with confusion, turning back to face him once more. “But, you’ve never hunted them?” she concluded, though doubt plagued her.

"Yes," he answered her question at face value before addressing the confusion both on her face and in her tone. "Stark—he's pretty much my dad—says I'm not old enough yet." Tambourine licked his lips, then pursed them thoughtfully. That's why he found Freyja's feats so impressive. So far, it hadn't occurred to him to feel self-conscious in comparison, though now it began to creep up on him a bit.

"He said I could start participating soon, though," he made a point to say after a slight pause, shooting her a sort of sheepish smile. "'Til then, though, yeah... I just observe."

She nodded to all the information she was given and offered a smile. She hadn’t gotten much of a chance to really learn more about the neighboring packs around them or the traditions they followed. But, perhaps, this would be her opportunity to learn more about the world outside of Drageda.

“Do you follow a Heda?” she wondered allowed in the midst of her curiousity, knowing that Heda had never mentioned a branch of Trigeda within the Teekons.

She didn't say anything more on the topic, instead shifting to a new one altogether. At first, Tambourine was relieved for the reprieve; he was starting to feel like he was behind the times somehow. But then she used a word he couldn't place, no matter how many times he repeated it in his head. He was starting to feel really dumb.

"I'm not sure what that is," he admitted, stride unbroken. Using contextual clues, he added, "I follow my Alphas, Stark and Banner." Even as the words left his mouth, he suddenly flashed back to his encounter with Simatra. She had called a warrior by some other name (he couldn't remember what now). Perhaps Freyja's pack just had a different name for its leaders? "Is a Heda like an Alpha?"

For the first time in quite a while, Freyja felt lost at the other’s words. She frowned as he attempted to make sense of what she had offered and in turn Freyja did the same to his words.

“Is Alpha like a leader?” She had not heard the word “Alpha” before and was intrigued to learn more about the position.